Ex-police Officer's Latest Theft Case Thrown Out

August 12, 1999|By Debbie Salamone Wickham of The Sentinel Staff

A former Orlando police officer accused of stealing from motorists won his final round in court Wednesday.

Barry Elrod's victory ended a series of court battles that consistently had gone Elrod's way. He was charged with taking money from drivers he pulled over for traffic violations. But three separate juries in three cases acquitted him. Wednesday's victory - his fourth - came after Circuit Judge Bob Wattles threw out the grand theft case for lack of evidence.

``They weren't the greatest cases but we tried them,'' said Bill Vose, Orange-Osceola chief assistant state attorney. ``This was a real embarrassment for government in general to have someone take advantage of the citizenry.''

Vose hopes a police board will strip Elrod of his license to be a law officer. Elrod, 37, still hopes to return to law enforcement work. He maintains he did nothing wrong.

But Barnes argued Bradshaw didn't discover the money was missing until the next day. After his arrest, Bradshaw's car was towed to a lot and parked unlocked overnight. That meant anyone could have stolen the money, Barnes said.

Besides the four cases Elrod won, prosecutors dropped two other cases earlier this year, said attorney Michele Biecker, who represented Elrod on a few of the cases that were misdemeanors. Prosecutors could revive those two misdemeanor cases, but that may be unlikely.

Barnes maintained that the people who complained about Elrod had been drinking and their perceptions were askew. Prosecutors contended Elrod carefully selected victims who would not be believed.

Elrod resigned from his job in February 1997 while authorities investigated him. Elrod said he did so only to care for his out-of-town father who has since died of cancer.